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Currently Browsing: May, 2005

Member of Off Broadway League Agrees to Standards

Mary Donovan

We’ve passed another landmark in our efforts to organize Off Broadway. For the first time, a member of the Off Broadway League has signed 802’s “pink book” – our Off Broadway standards – for a new musical called “Altar Boyz.”

Freelance Negotiations Update

Jay Blumenthal

Local 802 and St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble have reached a tentative agreement. What sets this agreement apart from other freelance orchestras is that St. Luke’s has agreed to an additional fourth year. Wages are effective and retroactive to Sept. 8,

Now that three freelance orchestras have agreed to the same three-year economic package, and others have indicated that they’ll do the same, these economics have been promulgated by the Executive Board as the new single engagement classical wage scale. On

International Executive Board To Meet With New York Recording Musicians

David Lennon

On May 11th, an unprecedented meeting will take place between the AFM International Executive Board (IEB) and New York recording musicians, at Local 802 headquarters. Local 802 extended this invitation to the IEB at its first quarter meeting in New

If you’re a jazz or freelance musician and you need health insurance, help is available! But you have to take the time to visit the union and find out how you can access these benefits. A March 28 seminar on

New Law Would Channel Money from Clubs to Musicians' Benefits

If you have ever performed in a Broadway pit, you know that the benefits — especially pension — are some of the best. But many may not know that the reason Broadway pension is so good is that Broadway theatres

Contractors in Their Own Words

Red Press, who plays flute, piccolo, sax and clarinet, began his musical career in the 1950’s playing first sax with Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey. He recorded with Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney, Pearl Bailey, Lena Horne, Leonard Bernstein, Itzhak Pearlman

From the Theatre Committee

As reported in last month’s Allegro, on March 2 the Broadway Theatre Committee unanimously adopted a new set of bylaws that will govern its operations for the future. The new bylaws state that each elected delegate’s primary responsibility is to

Organizing Matters

Lynne Bond

It takes small steps, but each organizing victory is one more way musicians build up their collective strength. This month’s organizing column deals with a new kind of space: a spin-off of an Off Broadway venue. One phone call from

Guest Commentary

Jim Schmidt

Lots of us think we have bad bosses, but imagine if your boss held you hostage to your job at gunpoint. Three years ago, six Mexican farmworkers found themselves in such a position. The workers had been promised good agricultural

Beat on the Street

As an 802 member and as an American, what are your concerns about the proposed changes in Social Security? We should not let the “bull” of Wall Street into the “china shop” of Social Security. Ernest G. Wilson, Jr. As

Social Security Shouldn't Be Trashed

Mikael Elsila

What happens when you saw one leg off of a three-legged stool? You fall over! But that’s exactly what President Bush and his team are proposing to do. The “three-legged stool” is the classic metaphor for how you are supposed

Musicians' Assistance Program

Leslie Cardell, LCSW

Making end-of-life decisions is now front page news. Phrases like “health care proxy,” “advance directive,” and “living will” might be familiar to you now — although you might not know what they mean. Perhaps you made some resolutions in this

New Working Theater Play Debuts This Month

The Working Theater is celebrating its 20th anniversary season with a continued commitment to creating theatre for and about working people. The company’s new play, “Disconnect,” takes aim at the telecommunications industry and corporate America’s incessant need to create newer

Book Notes

Bill Crow

“Molly and the Sword,” by Robert Shlasko, illustrated by Donna Diamond, Jane and Street Publishers, 2004, www.JaneAndStreet.com. Here is a children’s book, for seven-year-olds and up, with a musical theme. At the beginning of the story, Molly is courageous and

Matthew Milne is Local 802’s new controller, replacing Jon Bogert who retired April 1. Matt comes to 802 with a wealth of experience from the finance and business management fields. With a career that spans two decades, he has managed

More and more, clients, venues and catering houses are requiring bandleaders to have liability insurance. Why? Easy — they want to protect themselves from lawsuits arising from personal or property damage. Local 802 can help! When you file your engagement

Reminiscences

Klaus Suonsaari

Bobby Short was a perfect example of how thoroughly the music of the Great American Songbook has become an international institution. Demand for his music was worldwide. It was not unusual for him to be summoned across the Atlantic to

SHAKING UP THE LABOR MOVEMENT To the Editor: Over the past year, the president of the service workers’ union (SEIU), Andy Stern, has tried to shake up and wake up the labor movement. While I admire much of his work,

MTA TO JETS: IT’S A TOUCHDOWN On March 31, the MTA unanimously approved the New York Jets’s bid to build a stadium on the Far West Side of Manhattan. The New York Sports and Convention Center, which will include the

“Play Without Words.” Local 802 negotiated an agreement with Brooklyn Academy of Music and Alice Bernstein for this production at the 874 -seat Harvey Theatre. The current production represents a 6 percent wage increase over the 2002 contract that covered

When I worked with jazz bands in the 1950’s and 60’s, I filled in the frequent holes in their schedules with club dates that I picked up on the union floor. Besides the differences in the music on those jobs,

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